Mascara, an important make-up accessory used to darken and define eyelashes to accentuate the eyes, is difficult to apply because of the target area of application. The eyelashes offer a very small application area, while being soft, flexible, delicate and in close proximity to very sensitive eye tissue. Therefore, a mascara product would be liked by the consumers when a right kind of applicator is provided to them for easy application as the overall consumer experience depends on both the product and on the applicator used to apply it.
Conventional mascara brushes are in the form of a generally cylindrical straight rod carrying a plurality of bristles extending radially outwardly from its outer surface. However, straight mascara brushes are not thought by some people to be ideal for all purposes and curved mascara brushes are also known.
One applicator may be generally straight and have short, densely arrayed bristles and may be employed for applying mascara to eyelashes to achieve a desired effect (e.g. to volumize eyelashes). While another applicator may incorporate a bend and have longer, less densely arrayed bristles for applying mascara to eyelashes to achieve an alternative desired effect (e.g., to separate and define eyelashes).
Curved mascara brushes permit contact of the brush with more eyelashes along a correspondingly curved eyelid. However, the curved brush is more difficult to use in the confines of the eye area, particularly the corners of the eye where a straight brush works better. Another drawback of a pre-curved brush is that it is not readily adjustable to confirm to a particular user's eyelid curvature. In addition, the curvature of the upper and lower eyelids is rarely the same and a brush curved to fit the upper lid will not properly fit the lower lid.
Adjustable mascara brushes are known in the prior art. It is known to provide adjustment of the angle of the brush or applicator relative to the applicator wand or handle.
Thus, existing applicators have limited functionality and are not conducive to applying mascara to eyelashes using different techniques and/or different orientations. Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for improved applicator systems that allow application of mascara using different techniques and/or orientations to achieve multiple desired effects.
Therefore, there exists a need for an applicator that provides ease-of-use as well as is modifiable to adapt to the shape requirement of the user.